Think You Know Career Advising? Four Benefits of Career Advising You Might Not Have Considered

What do you envision when you hear 'career advising'?

If you're like most people, the first thing that probably comes to mind is college students seeking direction before their careers begin. Yet while career advising is a great tool for guiding people at the onset of their careers, it can also be helpful for employees who are already established in a position. Career advising can help individuals at all stages in their careers to explore meaningful options, identify skills gaps, cultivate opportunities for progression, create actionable plans, and benefit from the insight of an objective advisor. In fact, career advising can also benefit employers by engaging their workforce, helping employees develop the skills they need to excel in their position and grow within the organization.   

So, how can a service so often associated with career newcomers also be useful for experienced employees and the organizations that employ them? To discover how career advisors can help employees and employers at all levels, here are four benefits of career advisors that you might not have considered:

Career advisors support employees and employers alike. A career advisor is like a football coach. A coach not only has to develop players as individuals, they also have to develop players such that they complement their team, meeting team needs and helping them work cohesively with teammates. Career advisors work in much the same way, advising employees on an individual level while also fostering skills and abilities that their organization needs them to have. When employees are knowledgeable about an organization's business needs, education and training options, and internal career opportunities, they're more likely to stay within the organization and to demonstrate a higher level of performance within it.

Career advisors provide insight into education, too. You've heard it plenty of times before-an education is just as important for older employees as it is for younger entry-level workers. Increasing employee access to an education motivates and upskills employees, boosting them to the kind of positions they find rewarding and responding to organizations' demand for skilled workers. Yet while many organizations provide tuition assistance programs, too few employees are aware of their existence, or are unclear about the requirements or value they present to them. To fill this gap, career advisors can assist employees in taking advantage of tuition benefits and guide them to courses and programs that will help them contribute more in their current role and in their future roles within their organization.

Career advising can be provided onsite and online. The average adult worker has no shortage of responsibilities, on and off the job. Thankfully, gone are the days when a 9 to 5 university career center is the only option available to would-be advisees. Whether provided to employees one-on-one or to employee groups, career advising can be flexible and can be provided in-person and online. Moreover, a qualified career advising service can provide online advising resources, such as career planning tools, financial aid information, interactive assessments, and more, which can be accessed 24/7. A key advantage of flexible career advising is obvious: When employees have access to career advising that fits their busy schedules, they're far more likely to make use of the service.

Career advisors can help employees gain college credit for what they already know. More than one in five American adults has some college credit but no degree. There are a lot of reasons for this, but most people would agree that it's a trend that needs to be reversed if our workforce is to remain competitive. To help offset this trend, career advisors can work with employees and help determine if they can them earn college credit for knowledge they've already gained from on-the-job training, work experience, military and volunteer service and more, saving them time and money on their path to a credential, certificate or degree.

There's no one-size-fits-all approach to career advising, which is why today's career advisors are trained to understand both employees' and organizations' needs and opportunities for success. By providing a customized approach to advising, qualified advisors can explore career and education paths that are a right fit for employee and employer alike, developing employees into the contributors they need and positively impacting productivity and retention.